Why Government Disinformation Works

Have you ever wondered how government’smisinformation gains traction?What I have noticed is that whenever astunning episode occurs, such as 9-11 or the Boston Marathon bombing, most everyone,whether on the right or left, goes along with the government’sexplanation, because they can hook their agenda to the government’s account.

The leftwing likes the official stories of Muslimscreating terrorist mayhem in America, because itproves their blowback theory and satisfies themthat the dispossessed and oppressed can fight back against imperialism.

The patriotic rightwing likes the official story, becauseit proves America is attacked for its goodnessor because terrorists were allowed in by immigration authorities and nurtured by welfare, or becausethe government, which can’t do anything right, ignoredplentiful warnings.

Whatever the government says, no matter how problematical, the official story gets its tractionfrom its compatibility with existing predispositionsand agendas.

In such a country, truth has no relevance. Onlyagendas are important.

A person can see this everywhere. I could write volumes illustrating how agenda-driven writersacross the spectrum will support the most improbablegovernment stories despite the absence of any evidence simply because the government’s line canbe used to support their agendas.

For example, a conservative writer in the June issue of Chronicles uses the government’s storyabout the alleged Boston Marathon bombers,Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, to argue against immigration, amnesty for illegals and political asylumfor Muslims. He writes: “Even the most high-techsecurity systems imaginable will inevitably fail as they are overwhelmed by a flood of often hostileand dangerous immigrants.”

The writer accepts all of the improbable government statements as proof that the brothers wereguilty. The wounded brother who was unable to respond to the boat owner who discovered him and had to be put on life support somehow managed towrite a confession on the inside of the boat.

As soon as the authorities have the brother locked up in a hospital on life support, “unnamedofficials” and “authorities who remain anonymous”are planting the story in the media that the suspect is signing written confessions of his guilt while onlife support. No one has seen any of these writtenconfessions. But we know that they exist, because the government and media say so.

The conservative writer knows that Dzhokhar isguilty because he is Muslim and a Chechen. Therefore,it does not occur to the writer to wonder aboutthe agenda of the unnamed sources who are busy at work creating belief in the brothers’ guilt. This insuresthat no juror would dare vote for acquittal and have to explain it to family and friends. Innocentuntil proven guilty in a court has been thrown outthe window. This should disturb the conservative writer, but doesn’t.

The conservative writer sees Chechen ethnicityas an indication of guilt even though the brothersgrew up in the U.S. as normal Americans, becauseChechens are “engaged in anti-Russian jihad.” But Chechens have no reason for hostility against theU.S. As evidence indicates, Washington supportsthe Chechens in their conflict with Russia. By supporting Chechen terrorism, Washington violates allof the laws that it ruthlessly applies to compassionate Americans who give donations to Palestiniancharities thatWashington alleges are run by Hamas,a Washington-declared terrorist organization.

It doesn’t occur to the conservative writer thatsomething is amiss when martial law is establishedover one of America’s main cities and its metropolitanarea, 10,000 heavily armed troops are put on the streets with tanks, and citizens are ordered outof their homes with their hands over their heads, allof this just to search for one wounded 19-year-old suspect. Instead the writer blames the “surveillancestate” on “the inevitable consequences of suicidalliberalism” which has embraced “the oldest sin in the world: rebellion against authority.” The writeris so pleased to use the government’s story line as away of indulging the conservative’s romance with authority and striking a blow at liberalism that hedoes not notice that he has lined up against theFounding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence and rebelled against authority.

I could just as easily have used a left-wing writer to illustrate the point that improbable explanationsare acceptable if they fit with predispositions andcan be employed in behalf of an agenda.

Think about it. Do you not think that it is extraordinarythat the only investigations we have ofsuch events as 9-11 and the BostonMarathon bombingare private investigations, such as one investigation of the backpacks that questioned whether it’spossible to cause that much damage with the pressure-cooker bombs.

There was no investigation of 9-11. Indeed, theWhite House resisted any inquiry at all for one yeardespite the insistent demands from the 9-11 families.The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) did not investigate anything. NISTsimply constructed a computer model that was consistent with the government’s story. The 9/11 Commission simply sat and listened to the government’sexplanation and wrote it down. These are not investigations.

The only investigations have come from a physicist who proved that World Trade Center (WTC)building 7 came down at free fall and was thus theresult of controlled demolition, from a team of scientists who examined dust from the WTC towersand found nano-thermite, from high-rise architectsand structural engineers with decades of experience and fromfirst responders and firefighters whowere in the towers and experienced explosionsthroughout the towers even in the sub-basements.

We have reached the point where evidence is nolonger required. The government’s statements suffice. Only conspiracy kooks produce real evidence.

Paul Craig Roberts is a former assistant undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury and former associate editor of The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of many books including The Tyranny of Good Intentions, Alienation and the Soviet Economy, How the Economy Was Lost and others.